#walkouton77: football fan activism in Premier League

Abstract

This article provides an analysis and a discussion of a protest over ticket prices among fans of the English football club, Liverpool FC. The protest was organized with the hashtag #walkouton77 and combined social media activity with a massive walkout during a globally televised football match. I explore the #walkouton77 protest from two perspectives: Firstly, how fan-activity transformed a franchised TV football match into a transmedia event. Secondly, how fan activism combines cultural and political dimensions as well as offline and online dimensions. It is suggested that football fan activism holds distinguished fan activism potentials demonstrated by the #walkouton77 movement influencing the LFC owners’ club-as-commodity discourses by promoting a club-as-culture discourse. It is concluded the football fans are able to function as collective cultural critics thereby obtaining a position as co-authors of the club as a cultural institution.

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